EyeSouth Expands into Northeast Georgia and North Carolina Through Strategic Partnership with Gainesville Eye Associates

EyeSouth Partners has announced that it has expanded its presence into Northeast Georgia and North Carolina by completing a strategic partnership with Gainesville Eye Associates. EyeSouth is an eye care-focused physician services organization formed by Shore Capital Partners, a lower middle market healthcare private equity firm.

Gainesville Eye Associates provides a full suite of eye care services including cataract surgery, glaucoma treatment, retina services, oculoplastics, and medical optometry. Gainesville Eye Associates is led by ophthalmologists Jack Chapman, MD, OD, and Clayton Blehm, MD, as part of a team of five doctors who provide care at two primary clinical locations in Gainesville and Braselton, GA, and six satellite locations in Georgia and North Carolina.

“We are very excited to partner with EyeSouth to help take our business to the next level,” Dr. Jack Chapman, who is a past President of the Medical Association of Georgia and will join EyeSouth’s Physician Advisory Board, said in a company news release. “We firmly believe EyeSouth’s model will allow us to grow and enhance our medical and surgical specialty eye care services in Northeast Georgia and Southwest North Carolina. EyeSouth’s network of affiliated eye care practices aligns with our absolute focus on providing the highest standard of clinical quality. I look forward to continuing to lead our practice and contribute to the future growth and mission of the EyeSouth organization.”

“This partnership is a great cultural fit for our practice and will allow us to unlock opportunities to continue to improve our patients’ experience and access to eye care through investments in cutting edge technologies, additional capacity and best-in-class administrative support,” said Dr. Clayton Blehm. “We are truly looking forward to sharing these benefits with our patients and their referring doctors.”

For nearly 40 years, Gainesville Eye Associates has offered high quality eye care treatment services to patients throughout Northeast Georgia and Southwest North Carolina. Gainesville Eye Associates will continue to operate under its brand in the community with no changes to its underlying staff, physicians or locations.

“We could not be more thrilled to have Gainesville Eye Associates join the EyeSouth network,” Eugene Gabianelli, MD, Chief Medical Officer of EyeSouth Partners, said in a company news release. “Gainesville Eye Associates has a longstanding reputation for high quality patient care, and we look forward to partnering with the physicians and support team to provide additional resources and expertise to continue the practice’s history of growth.”